Joystiq

What Skyrim looks like ... plus 100 or so mods

David Hinkle — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:00:00 EST

You might like the look of Skyrim already, but with 100 mods running - like custom character models and over 25 landscape augmentations - you might spend more time taking in the beauty than slaying the dragons. Wait, now the dragons are beautiful too?

Continue reading What Skyrim looks like ... plus 100 or so mods

What Skyrim looks like ... plus 100 or so mods originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim Machinima Theater: The fall of Markarth

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST

Not since the great battle of Skyrim have we seen such a an impressive example of machinima in Tamriel. Unsurprisingly, this video is by the same folks who brought us that previous epic battle.

Continue reading Skyrim Machinima Theater: The fall of Markarth

Skyrim Machinima Theater: The fall of Markarth originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim's PC fans are modding the crap out of it with Steam Workshop

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST

When Skyrim and Steam teamed up, we had a feeling whatever they created would be an instant, smash hit, and it looks like we were right. More than 2 million mods have been downloaded from Steam's Skyrim Workshop, and players have published more than 2,500 mods since its launch on February 2, Bethesda says. Mods range from Valve's own Fall of the Space Core, to graphics updates, varied weapons options, mechanics changes and posh mudcrabs, as seen in the "best of" video above.

Skyrim outsold all Steam games three-to-one in its first month, and it outsold all exclusive titles for both PS3 and Xbox 360, Bethesda claims. The average Steam user has played Skyrim for more than 75 hours, which is a ridiculously high average. Modern Warfare 3 outsold Skyrim for the year, but Skyrim was the second-most-successful title of 2011, beating other blockbusters such as EA's Battlefiled 3. And it doesn't even have multiplayer!

Continue reading Skyrim's PC fans are modding the crap out of it with Steam Workshop

Skyrim's PC fans are modding the crap out of it with Steam Workshop originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim goes Braveheart in amazing machinima video

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

YouTube user "Tyrannicon" has a bit of flair for the dramatic, it seems. Between the epic music, dramatic shots, and hundreds (thousands?) of dead Skyrim characters he lays waste to in this incredible video, we're gonna go ahead and say he's got a pretty apt username.

Skyrim goes Braveheart in amazing machinima video originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim's Fall of the Space Core mod may be hiding a Portal 2 quest

Jessica Conditt — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Valve released Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1 yesterday as a harmless, clever Skyrim mod featuring a personality sphere from the Portal franchise. As far as anyone could tell, the mod was a cute Easter Egg and the sphere itself didn't do anything -- at least, it hasn't done anything yet.

YouTuber Memborable's video -- the one right up there -- shows where to find the Space Core and runs down what is does (and doesn't do). He then accesses the console and types "help portal," which pulls up a list of all the things relating to "portal" in Skyrim. One of these things is titled "portal2quest."

Valve hasn't confirmed any Portal-themed quests in Skyrim, but as the mod is titled "Vol. 1," we wouldn't be surprised to see more content, and perhaps even, yes, an entire quest.

[Thanks, Jarrett!]

Skyrim's Fall of the Space Core mod may be hiding a Portal 2 quest originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim's Creation Kit available 'soon' on PC; latest vid offers a first look

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST

Trolls, dragons, giant spiders, giant crabs, giant ... people -- Bethesda's Skyrim has it all, at least in terms of things that can kill you. But series fans know that they can take the game a few steps further into crazytown with mods, as we've seen over the past few months. Bethesda knows this too, clearly, as the developer is releasing a Creation Kit sometime soon which will allow users to more easily mod and share creations for Skyrim.

Interestingly, the company notes in its developer diary that it's "going to keep looking for ways to get mods to more people, and hopefully one day to our console audience," but comes up short of saying anything more concrete. Frankly, we'd love to be able to snap into a Skyrim with our fellow Macho Man fans out there (oooooh yeah!), but we simply don't have a PC strong enough.

The Creation Kit will support Steam Workshop, allowing mods to be shared via Steam users easily. We'd suggest pushing that Steam Workshop support to PS3 given Steam's past with Sony's home console, but then we also know of Skyrim's ugly past with the PS3. Oh well, maybe next game, right?

Skyrim's Creation Kit available 'soon' on PC; latest vid offers a first look originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim mod replaces dragons with My Little Pony

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST

As Bronies can attest to, the "Yay" of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's Fluttershy is far more terrifying than any thu'um of a dovahkiin. As seen in this Skyrim mod, watch as a pack of the winged horses devastate a town, all while repeating their haunting call.

Skyrim mod replaces dragons with My Little Pony originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Snap into a Skyrim with the 'Macho Men' mod

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST

We had to watch the above video a couple of times to make sure we weren't having some sort of fantastical dream, but we are apparently awake: the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage has made his way into Skyrim, and he's bringin' the pain. Ohhhhhh yeah!

Snap into a Skyrim with the 'Macho Men' mod originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim PC mod claims to improve performance

Richard Mitchell — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

No, it won't help you take down giants or snow trolls more easily, but a new Skyrim patch does purport to increase the game's performance with certain configurations. Bethesda forum user Arisu has created the Skyrim Acceleration Layer which, in his own words, "works mostly by rewriting some x87 FPU code and inlining a whole ton of useless getter functions along the critical paths because the developers at Bethesda, for some reason, compiled the game without using any of the optimization flags for release builds." You get all that?

We're unable to test the mod ourselves, though forum users are reporting frame rate increases in more graphically intense areas (Markarth, in particular). Meanwhile, Rock, Paper, Shotgun seems to have noticed at least a slight improvement. The mod requires the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), which you can find here. Head over to the Bethesda forums for detailed installation instructions.

Skyrim PC mod claims to improve performance originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FUS RO DAH! Skyrim modded for Kinect

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:30:00 EST

Questing through Skyrim with Kinect forms the latest tech demonstration from YouTube user KinectFAAST. The mod features the motion controls he's shown off in previous videos, along with additional voice controls for Skyrim. This means one important thing: Shouts!

The voice controls go even further, enabling the player to switch weapons and access favorites. There are also some voice commands not featured in the video, including "Hello" to start a conversation with an NPC and "Journal" to access the quest log. It'd be the type of feature we'd love to see added to the game if we thought it would work "first time, every time."

FUS RO DAH! Skyrim modded for Kinect originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim without textures looks pretty neat

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:00:00 EST

By messing with the graphics on Skyrim for PC, players can experience the game as if the art department was questing to make some kind of Team Fortress 2 and ICO love child. No lush, happy little trees here.

Skyrim without textures looks pretty neat originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bethesda confirms Skyrim mod support, will release Creation Kit

Randy Nelson — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:00:00 EST

Bethesda's fifth Elder Scrolls game, like Oblivion before it, will allow for extensive player customization, according to the developer. "We've always been impressed with what the community has done with our tools," a rep for the company said on its forums, revealing, "Like the Elder Scrolls Construction Set for Morrowind and Oblivion, we plan to release [a] Creation Kit so you guys can mod Skyrim."

The immediate predecessor, Oblivion, has seen countless mods -- everything from new characters to online play. We can only imagine what the Skyrim community will manage to create while we wait for Bethesda to finish the most ambitious Skyrim mod, Fallout 4.

Bethesda confirms Skyrim mod support, will release Creation Kit originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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